3.23
chiefly owing to the ill health of the Head of the Depart-
ment which finally obliged him to go on leave to England in
May.
Hie successor (the present writer) was during the
first few months of his tenure too oooupled with other matteri
to give much attention to the statistical branch of the
Department and it was finally decided that the staff should
abandon all attempt to cope with the figures for the first
half of 1917 and should concentrate on the organisation of
a sound working basis during the second half year as a pre-
paration for 1918. To this end the clerical staff was
largely increased and additional office-accommodation was
requisitioned, while work was begun on the preparation of
a list of Statistical Headings covering all the important
items in the trade of the Port. The Department is much
indebted in this matter to the courtesy of Mr. A. H. Harris,
Commissioner of the Chinese Maritime Customs, who was good
enough to provide for its use copies of the Statisticsl
Classifications used by his own Service. The draft of the
new list was on completion submitted to the Hongkong Goneral
Chamber of Commerce who gave much valuable advice. The list
as finally revised was printed and published in December,
It will be observed that there are certain notable
omissions from the List, namely, Livestock, Liquors, Tobacco
and Opium. The reason for these omissions is that the
necessary information is obtainable through other channels,
The traffic in livestock is controlled by the Public Health
& Buildings Ordinance 1903, which is administered by the
Sanitary Department: that in Liquor, Tobacco and Opium is
controlled and recorded under the Ordinances which bear their
names. Figures for all these will be appended to any annual
Returns of Trade that are published.
5.
No statistics can be compiled for goode imported
under the General Import Llocnoes mentioned in paragraph 2.
Rince the only data available are those in the ships' mani-
Tests, which are quite inadequate for the purpo86,
1917
!